Ogden selected for professional rugby team
Playing at the national tournament last weekend helped Utah State University’s women’s rugby team in more ways than one, including giving Becca Ogden professional opportunities, team captain Lauren Dreitzler said.
Eight players on the Aggie club team traveled to San Francisco this weekend with 14 other women from teams around Utah to compete against teams on a national level and to have the chance to play on the professional team from California, the Grizzly Shield.
Out of the eight girls, Courtney Sipherd, Jamia Gill and Becca Ogden were the only women from USU who were chosen to stay an extra day to tryout for the Grizzlies.
After only one day of tryouts, Ogden became the only Aggie to make the professional team.
Besides giving Ogden national attention, Dreitzler said the trip did even more for USU women’s rugby and for women’s rugby in Utah as a whole.
The women learned a lot of drills they brought home to their team, she said, and also gave the whole team a boost of confidence.
“We did real well compared [considering the other teams’ experience],” Dreitzler said. “The other teams had more practice and they had coaches on a national level.”
The Utah national team had their first practice a day before they left for the tournament, Dreitzler said, and most of the other teams had been playing together for quite some time.
The Utah team lost both of the games they played, but still had some great play, Dreitzler said. In the second game Sipherd scored a try when she ran though the other team’s backline and intercepted the ball.
“It helped the league quite a bit,” Dreitzler said. “We developed skills and learned tricks and plays that all the girls will be able to take home to their team.”
Dreitzler said having eight players who played on the national team will definitely give USU an edge, especially next year.
On Saturday afternoon, the Aggies will try to use last week’s experience when they take on Brigham Young University’s B team in Provo.
BYU is the only university in Utah who has enough players to have two women’s rugby teams.
“We need team work, a lot of it, and quick play,” Ogden said.
Although it’s BYU’s B team, Ogden said it won’t be easy.